The present invention relates to a grommet closure device for sealing cable openings through a raised access floor installation, typically used in a data centre, or similar.
Raised access floors, typically comprising a plurality of floor tiles, are often used in buildings and offices. In particular, raised floors are often used for supporting computer equipment in a data centre, or similar, housing a large number of computer servers and related equipment arranged in cabinets or racks. Air-conditioning, or similar heat-exchange, means are often provided underneath the raised access floor structure for cooling the computer equipment through designated cooling vents provided for the cabinets or racks.
In addition, openings are often incorporated into the raised access floors to allow for various types of under floor cabling to be fed into the cabinets or racks for connection to computer equipment housed therein.
In order to maximise cooling of the computer equipment via the designated vents, it is desirable to restrict the flow of air through the openings provided for the cables in the raised access floor to prevent cooling air from leaking out through these holes whereby it will not be directed to the computer equipment that needs it.
WO 03/023922 discloses a floor grommet closure device for preventing cooling air from escaping through a cable opening, the device arranged to fit into an opening in a raised floor and having brushes that extend out from the sides of the grommet frame across the opening to restrict the flow of cooling air through the opening whilst allowing cabling to pass through it between the fibres of the brushes.
A problem with grommet closure devices of this design, however, is that cabling passing through an opening tends to be pulled fairly tight, which causes it to follow the shortest path through the opening and run along the sides of an opening. Due to the brush fibres being secured at the sides of the device, cabling typically passes through the brush fibres near to their roots, which causes the brush fibres to substantially distort and separate along their length, leaving large gaps and pathways through the brushes that cooling air can escape through, thereby considerably reducing the effectiveness of the seal provided by the brushes.